Rescue workers have recovered nearly 400 bodies from a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, the chief coroner said on Tuesday.

Over 100 of these fatalities are children. Morgues are struggling to find space for all the deceased.

According to Red Cross estimates, the death toll may rise as around 600 people remain missing.

Dozens of houses were buried when a mountainside collapsed in the town of Regent on Monday morning, leaving more than 2,000 homeless. The Sierra Leone mudslide has been one of Africa’s deadliest natural disasters in recent years.

Earlier in the day, President Ernest Bai Koroma issued a desperate appeal for help, saying the damage was “overwhelming us.” Sierra Leone is no stranger to humanitarian disaster.

It has suffered civil war and more recently it was struck by Ebola, leaving thousands dead. Now once again the morgues are full to capacity.

There are now fears of an outbreak of waterborne diseases like cholera.

UN evaluating humanitarian needs
The United Nations said on Tuesday it is evaluating humanitarian needs in the country.

“Contingency plans are being put in place to mitigate any potential outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

He said the UN country team in Sierra Leone has mobilised and is “supporting national authorities in rescue operations, helping evacuate residents, providing medical assistance to the injured, registering survivors, and providing food rations, water and dignity kits to those affected.”

He noted that the International Organization for Migration released $150,000 in emergency funds immediately following the flooding.

Summertime is when the debate on whether burkinis are allowed in Egyptian resorts heats up.

In Egypt, where many women don the Islamic headscarf, swimming in privately owned resorts while wearing a full-body swimsuit is a controversial topic.

This summer, the government reversed its decision to allow women in pools and on beaches to wear burkinis, authorizing resorts to decide whether to ban the conservative swimwear.

Tourism Ministry official Ali Ghoneim expressed concern that the debate could have negative implications for the tourism industry.

“Egyptian resorts respect the culture of all its guests as long as it doesn’t harm others,” he told Arab News.

After some hotels began turning away burkini-wearing guests from pools and beaches, the ministry stepped in to allow the swimwear, saying: “Burkinis are allowed as long as they are made of the same material as bikinis.”

But in less than 24 hours it backtracked, saying it is legal for resorts to decide for themselves depending on “the type of tourists they receive,” Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

Many hijab-wearing women have expressed anger over the reversal, saying the authorities should be protecting personal freedoms as per the law.

Those against the policy say it violates the constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on sect, gender, religion or belief.

Others believe the issue is about money, not politics. “The power to lift the burkini ban doesn’t lie with the government,” wrote one Facebook user.

“Like everything else in Egypt, it lies in money. Hotels will only lift the burkini ban if you, the customer, refuse to go to their establishment because of their discriminatory rules.”

Roughly 50 teenage Somalis and Ethiopians were “deliberately drowned” early on Wednesday by a smuggler who forced 120 passengers into the sea off Yemen’s coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

“The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them into the sea when he saw some ‘authority types’ near the coast,” Laurent de Boeck, the IOM Yemen Chief of Mission, said in a statement.

“They also told us that the smuggler has already returned to Somalia to continue his business and pick up more migrants to bring to Yemen on the same route,” he said.

IOM staff found the bodies of 29 African refugees or migrants buried in shallow graves on the beach in Yemen’s southern province of Shabwa along the Gulf of Aden, while another 22 were missing after the tragedy, according to survivors.

“They were all quite young, the average age was around 16,” IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said.

IOM officials spoke with 27 survivors who reported that a further 42 people had survived but had already left the beach, she said.

Kenyans are casting their votes to elect a president and a new parliament following weeks of campaigning and claims of a plot to rig the results.

Polling takes place between 6.00am (3:00 GMT) and 5.00pm (14:00 GMT) local time with results expected to be announced within seven days.

More than 19 million voters have registered to cast their vote in Tuesday’s election in 40,883 polling stations across the country.

Polling stations were crowded from the early hours of the day, with some voters queuing at stations as early as 1am despite the chilly weather of 15 Celcius degrees.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, 55, is seeking a second and final five-year term in office and faces stiff competition from an opposition coalition led by veteran politician Raila Odinga.

Odinga, 72, is running for the presidency for the fourth time.

Fourty three-year-old Aggrey Mwelesa, a father of four who works as a security guard, told Al Jazeera that he was happy to exercise his democratic right by voting in the election and the process was smooth.

“The exercise was smooth. Very calm. I came to the polling station at 2am. I pray for the best man for our country to win,” he said.

Alice Waithaka, a 35-year-old mother of two, said she had been queuing since 4am and did not experience any problems wile voting.

Polls have shown the two candidates – Kenyatta the son of the country’s founding father and Odinga former prime minister and son of the country’s vice president – neck and neck.

But no sitting president has ever lost an election in the East African country of 48 million people.

Five years ago Kenyatta defeated Odinga with the former prime minister disputing the results before they were confirmed by the country’s supreme court.

To win the election outright, either presidential candidate must garner at least 50 percent of the votes, plus one. Candidate must also get at least 25 percent of the votes in half of Kenya’s 47 counties to prevent a second round of voting.

If no candidate receives that, the election will go to a runoff, which would be a first in Kenya’s history.

The election is largely being fought over the economy and the courting of the youth vote. More than half of the registered voters are under the age of 35.

Kenyatta is promising to create more than one million new jobs in the country, which has the second biggest economy in the region. He also said he will reduce the cost of living in a country where 47 percent of the 48 million population live below the poverty line.

Odinga, on the other hand is promising to fight corruption. Transparency International – the global anti-corruption group ranks Kenya 145 out of 176 in its 2016 corruption index.

Odinga has also said he will create jobs for young people and make the country – which in recent years has experienced droughts – food secure.

In an interview with Al Jazeera earlier this week, Odinga said his party has put in place efforts to stop an alleged plot to tamper with results.

“There are attempts to manipulate the results,” Odinga said. “The only way [Kenyatta’s party] can win this election is by rigging.”

The country descended into violence in 2007 after the opposition, led by Odinga, claimed the election results were rigged in favour of the then incumbent Mwai Kibaki.

More than 1,000 people were killed in post-election violence and some 600,000 were displaced.

Kenyatta, while addressing a campaign rally last week, denied attempts to rig the elections and said the allegations by opposition leaders were a ploy to form a coalition government.

Polls have opened in Rwanda’s presidential election that is expected to extend the rule of Paul Kagame, who has dominated the East African country’s politics for more than two decades.

About seven million people were registered to vote in Friday’s elections to pick a president who will lead the country for the next seven years.

Kagame, 59, is facing only two challengers: Frank Habineza from the small Democratic Green Party – the only registered opposition party – and a little-known independent candidate and former journalist Philippe Mpayimana.

Authorities excluded several independent candidates from running, arguing they did not enjoy enough support.

A 2015 referendum saw 98 per cent of the electorate in favour of changing the constitution to allow Kagame to seek a third term. He could stay in power until 2034.

The president’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) has governed the country since its armed wing defeated the country’s ruling civilian and military authorities in 1994, ending the genocide of 800,000 Tutsis – Kagame’s ethnic group – and moderate Hutus.

Kagame has wielded wide-ranging powers since the end of the genocide and became president in 2000.

He is also believed to enjoy widespread popularity, having transformed the country ravaged by genocide and civil war into one of Africa’s stablest nations.

Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from Kagali in Rwanda, said the early arrival of people to vote early was explained by the RPF as a testament to their popularity and “exceptional record in governance”.

However, the opposition said the reason was that “they are expected to, and they are under a lot of pressure to from security officials from the RPF party”.

The president’s critics allege repression – including killings – of the opposition.

Kagame has overseen strong economic growth, at an average of eight percent between 2001 and 2015, while also turning Rwanda into a technological hub and uprooting corruption.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC) were sending observers to the election, the final results of which were expected to be announced within a week.

A committee of the National Council for Human Rights in Algeria is investigating the case of the death of a mother and her unborn child in the state of Djelfa who was refused medical treatment in a number of hospitals.

The committee, consisting of 40 individuals, visited the hospital of Ain and Sara which tended to the dead woman. The committee also visited Hassi Bahbah Hospital which refused to treat her and a third hospital which also refused to help the woman give birth.

The 22-year-old gave birth to a stillborn child and died the day after the birth after falling into a coma.

It is unclear why the pregnant woman was refused treatment by the two hospitals.

A number of midwives and officials at the hospitals have since been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

A thousand families of Egyptian security forces who have lost their lives defending their homeland will be performing Hajj this year as guests of King Salman, the Saudi ambassador to Cairo said on Monday.

Ambassador Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Qattan said King Salman has issued instructions to the concerned agencies to make the necessary arrangements for the pilgrims to be able to perform Hajj smoothly.

Qattan said the hosting comes “in appreciation from the King for the families of martyrs who have sacrificed their lives to defend their homeland.”

Doctors, aid workers and officials in South Sudan are warning of a “devastating” outbreak of cholera that could kill thousands of people in a country where millions are already threatened by famine.

More than 2,500 cases of the disease have been registered since April, a sharp increase over previous months. The total over the last year has now risen to 8,000, with about 250 confirmed deaths. Experts say this is likely to be only a fraction of overall toll.

With no sign that conflict in the world’s youngest country will abate soon, and with the population weakened by years of displacement and malnutrition, there are fears that cholera could spread out of control.

Medical staff fear an outbreak in hospitals. There are few functioning medical institutions in South Sudan and these often care for three or four times the number of patients they were designed to accommodate.

At al-Shabbah children’s hospital in Juba, where a single bed is shared between three patients, three cases of suspected cholera were reported last week. “The fear is that such an infectious disease in this very overcrowded hospital could be devastating. The children are very weak and we don’t have enough drugs. The demand is huge,” said Dr Felix Nyungura, director of the hospital.

More than 200,000 people are living in “protection of civilian camps” set up by the UN to provide a haven for those displaced by the ongoing fighting across much of South Sudan. They too are threatened by the disease, which can kill in hours.

“Last year we had cholera incidents in the camp and now the rainy season is here cholera is the big concern,” said Thomas Makur, an administrator of a camp where more than 30,000 people live adjacent to the principal UN base in Juba, the capital.

People displaced by recent fighting are at most risk. The international NGO Médicins Sans Frontières has opened a cholera treatment centre near Pieri in the remote north-east of South Sudan.

More than 27,000 people have fled their homes in the region since mid-February after clashes between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and opposition groups.

Last week the UN said the number of people struggling to find enough food each day in South Sudan had grown to 6 million – up from 4.9 million in February. This was the highest level of food insecurity in the country since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of intermittent conflict.

Though South Sudan has suffered drought, the crisis has political rather than climatic causes. Violence surged last year after a peace deal between President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar collapsed. Machar has now fled the country, but groups loyal to him continue to fight government forces. The government’s authority is limited, with widespread and increasingly chaotic conflict between local factions, cattle raiding and armed robbery.

Almost all protagonists in the fighting have been repeatedly accused of systematic and extensive human rights abuses.

There is a strong ethnic dimension to the violence, with civilians frequently targeted because of their tribe. Kiir and Machar come from rival ethnic groups. Civilians who have fled the violence to neighbouring countries say government troops, mostly drawn from Kiir’s Dinka tribe, carry out killings and other crimes against Machar’s Nuer and other smaller tribes suspected of supporting rebels.

A UN report last year described evidence of widespread atrocities against civilians including massacres, gang rape, abduction of children, unlawful detention and torture. The government has rejected its findings.

Senior UN officials say the combination of violence, ethnic strife, lack of development, climatic factors and international neglect in South Sudan is unmatched anywhere in the world.

“There are dead ends all around … I think we can still do something but we desperately need international pressure on the parties to go back to the table and be serious about peace,” Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN high commission for refugees, said last week.

Aid workers were struggling to raise funds, partly because of frustrations over the lack of progress in peace talks and partly because the scale of the problem was hidden, Grandi said during a visit to Juba.

“They [South Sudan’s refugees] don’t arrive on the shores of Europe, or Australia or at the border between Mexico and the US. Those are the places where refugees become visible and their voices are heard,” he said.

In an interview with the Guardian, David Shearer, the top UN official in South Sudan, underlined the logistical problems of operating in the country.

“No one quite realises the logistical hassles of this place. You can’t even move around. Travelling the 600 miles … takes two and a half weeks. In the wet season the roads are just impassable. There are 220 kilometres of tarmac roads in a country the size of France,” Shearer said.

More than 2 million people have fled South Sudan, with more than a million now living in neighbouring Uganda.

In Yemen, cholera is spreading so quickly that one child is infected nearly every 35 seconds, according to Save the Children.

The infectious disease, which is spread via contaminated food and water, can prove fatal if not treated quickly, and is already killing around 30 people each day.

Some 942 cholera-related deaths have been registered, and the rate of infection has more than tripled over the past two weeks.

Dr Mariam, a doctor working in Hodeida on Save the Children’s cholera response, said the situation was critical.
“You can see the fear in the eyes of the mothers, they are afraid to lose their children, their husbands, their relatives,” she told MEE.

Children have proved most susceptible she said, as most are already suffering from malnutrition, so their immunity is low.

And the infectious disease is spreading so quickly due to the lack of clean drinking water. “More than 60 percent of Yemeni people do not have access to clean water, what do you think the situation will be?”

While the treatment for cholera is simple, many patients do not manage to get help in time, she said.

“There are a lot of people you cannot support… sometimes I feel so angry and depressed that I cannot help these people. I am a medical doctor,” she said, sounding exasperated.

“The war needs to stop. We need peace. We need aid,” she added.

“Children did not cause this war.”

While cholera treatment is easy and inexpensive, many patients are unable to access the help they need, given the ongoing Saudi-led war, which has in itself claimed at least 8,000 lives since it broke out in March 2015, according to the UN.

Many thousands more cholera-related deaths are expected, Save the Children says, with 300,000 new cases predicted in the coming months.

Over the last week, there have been around 5,470 new cases each day, and the outbreak is disproportionately affecting children, the NGO said.

Of suspected cholera cases, 46 percent are children under 15, it said in a statement. In total, nearly 70 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, including some 10 million children.

Yemen, the poorest country in the region even before the war broke out, is now on the verge of “total collapse,” said Grant Pritchard, Yemen Country Director for Save the Children.

“Disease, starvation and war are causing a perfect storm of disaster for Yemen’s people. The region’s poorest country is on the verge of total collapse, and children are dying because they’re not able to access basic healthcare,” he said.

“The cholera outbreak is overwhelming what remains of Yemen’s conflict-battered health system. Hospitals and treatment centres are struggling to cope with the large number of patients coming in from across the country.

Medicines and intravenous fluids are quickly running out.”

Hospitals are overwhelmed and short of supplies, Save the Children said in a statement, due to “Yemen’s crippled infrastructure, food insecurity, failing economy and the ongoing war,” meaning many are unable to get help in time.

“The situation is particularly bad in more remote parts of the country with little or no access to health services. War, near-famine conditions and a complete breakdown in basic social services, including affordable transportation and access to clean water, are making the outbreak worse.

UNICEF warned that unless health workers are paid soon, more children will die.

The state has not paid many state employees for some months now, citing the war-time conditions.

“Without an urgent solution to pay health workers, more children will die – no matter how much humanitarian aid is delivered to the country,” Meritxell Relaño, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen said on Tuesday.

Somali President, Mohammed Abdullah Farmajo, has been offered $80 million in exchange for his agreement to sever diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar, the New Khalij news outlet reported a prominent journalist has revealed.

Yesterday, the newspaper Somalia Today quoted unnamed sources saying “there was pressure put on the Somali government by Saudi Arabia to reverse Somalia’s decision to stay neutral in the siege imposed by some Arab governments on the State of Qatar.”

The sources confirmed that Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw financial aid to the Somali government unless Somalia change its neutral stand in which it has called for an end to the political dispute between Qatar and the other Arab nations through dialogue via Islamic organisations like the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The sources added that “ministers of the Somali government returned from Saudi Arabia after meetings with their counterpart were unexpectedly postponed.” It is understood that the rulers of the UAE, with the knowledge of Saudi Arabia, have already sought to persuade Farmajo, who won the presidency despite opposition from the UAE, to change his position.

Sources close to Mogadishu and Abu Dhabi, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, explained to the New Khalij that the rulers of the UAE, in particular the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed, would have preferred the former president, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, to remain in power, especially because of the concessions that the UAE were given by Mahmoud, including contracts for the unfettered access and management of a number of Somali ports that would have provided the UAE with an important strategic position in trading across the world. The new Somali President, Farmajo, has vowed to reverse a number of agreements, some of which have been described as “illegal”.

Also arriving yesterday in the Somali capital were a Qatari delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sultan Bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, to hold talks between the Gulf States and officials of the Somali Federal government. According to sources, the Qatari delegation met with the Somali Prime Minister, Hasan Ali Khairi, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and are also expected to meet Farmajo.

The Qatari delegation praised the non-aligned stance taken by government towards the Gulf countries and encouraged Somali leaders to maintain their stance against the embargo on Qatar at any cost.

Somalia allowed Qatar the use of its airspace to break the no fly restriction imposed by the Arab countries. “At least 15 Qatari planes flew through Somali Airspace on the first day of the blockade on Qatar,” the Associated Press quoted an official with the aviation authority as saying.